The Truth About why the Apple Mac Pro Line has to Continue

The Apple Mac Pro line of computers has seen success in the past, but that success is waning as mobile devices become more powerful and popular. With a decline in sales reported at the beginning of this year, one question is in the minds of Apple fans: why not cut the Apple Mac Pro altogether?

Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted assurances on an employee message board that Apple is not leaving the desktop PC market, but some critics of the Apple Mac Pro find his promises dubious at best.

Will Apple stay in the desktop market? According to Cook, they most certainly will, but the proof is in the pudding, and for the last couple of years there has been no pudding to speak of.

Analyzing Cook’s Announcement

It would be hard to discuss Apple’s impact on the computer market without mentioning the Apple Mac Pro line of PCs, but with a 40.4 percent quarterly decline in desktop sales according to the research firm TrendForce, one has to wonder if their efforts in laptop production are hurting their bottom line when it comes to desktops.

In a recent message board post, Tim Cook released this statement:

“The desktop is very strategic for us. It’s unique compared to the notebook because you can pack a lot more performance in a desktop — the largest screens, the most memory and storage, a greater variety of I/O, and fastest performance. So there are many different reasons why desktops are really important, and in some cases critical, to people.

The current generation iMac is the best desktop we have ever made and its beautiful Retina 5K display is the best desktop display in the world.

Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there’s any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.”

Why is this so telling for the decline of the state of Apple desktops? Cook is referring to the latest generation of iMac as their flagship desktop, not the Mac Pro.

Apple is all about vertical integration and its ecosystem. Meaning that if Apple is going to sell a product, then it wants to control every aspect of its use, how it’s serviced, and so on. This type of production plays a significant role in that ecosystem. If content creators are forced to use Windows PCs due to the elimination of the Apple Mac Pro line, then they will want to buy a laptop that matches – eroding other core markets for Apple.

Simply put, Apple has no choice but to update the Mac Pro line if they want to stay relevant in the desktop computer market, declining sales or not.

How to Approach this Apple Mac Pro Dilemma

The core of Cook’s statement promises new desktop development. We will have a better idea of where they are going in the desktop market in the next few years.

Many Mac users prefer the MacOS, so it is a safe bet that they are waiting in anticipation of what the future products promised by Cook will be like. According to Relay FM co-founder Stephen Hackett, “These future Macs may be great, but a lot of people are tired of waiting.”

“These future Macs may be great, but a lot of people are tired of waiting.” -Stephen hackett

If an update to the Mac Pro line is too long in coming to the market, fans will stop waiting, and Apple’s desktop line will be dead in the water. For Apple’s sake, let’s hope that a more concrete announcement about the Mac Pro line is coming soon.